UK sees rise in alcohol related hospital admissions

Almost 900 more people are admitted to hospital every day for drinking compared to five years ago, new research has revealed.

A summary of existing data shows there were 1.1m alcohol-related admissions in England in 2009/10 – 879 more per day than five years previously.

Authors of the report at Liverpool John Moore’s University believe the increase is due to the increased availability of cheap alcohol.

The report showed a wide variation across the country in rates of hospitalisation, with 3,114 admissions for alcohol per 100,000 people in Liverpool, dropping to 850 per 100,000 on the Isle of Wight.

Professor Mark Bellis, a director of the Observatory, said: “Cheap alcohol is no longer a commodity that this country can afford.

“The scale of damage revealed by these profiles shows that alcohol is a problem for everyone in England.

“Even those families not directly affected by alcohol-related health problems, violence or abuse still pay towards the billions in taxes for the policing, health services and social support required to tackle this national problem.”

And the figures come against a backdrop of increasing numbers of people suffering and dying from chronic liver disease.

Other figures show 7.6% of drinkers are now considered high risk, meaning they are at serious risk of jeopardising their health.

Other detail, drawn from official crime statistics, shows there were 392,787 crimes attributable to alcohol in 2010/11 – equating to 7.6 crimes per 1,000 people.

The highest rates of crime linked to drinking by region occurred in London, with 11.7 crimes per 1,000 residents, while the north east had the lowest rate, at just 5.7 per 1,000.

Source: Sky News